UEFA 030 – Viva Parie

UEFA 030 – Viva Parie


I arrived at Gare-de-East train station in Paris early next morning.


The morning crowd was rushing to work. Many commuters were jumping over the entrance and exit, indicating that many of them had free rides. I snatched some bread and a cup of coffee at a café to get some coins.


There were guide maps and instructions on how to go places with the public transport, but, all were in French. I could figure out somehow, that there was a bus service direct from the train station to Charles de Gaulle Airport. European has adopted sign languages for their directions and public instructions, that more pictures and logo and less words.


It seemed that the arrival hall of Charles de Gaulle Airport was a huge circular corridor. In the middle you can see escalator going up and down. I checked at the monitor and go straight to the Arrival Sortie, where my wife will be arriving. As soon as I reached there, my sister greeted me, as she was already waiting.


My sister moved to France in 1987. She had a boy named Frank and a girl named Paula.
Though a housewife, she was involved in some voluntary social works, such as, a committee member in the Association of Singaporean living in France. She wrote to me quite often after moving to France.


After a short wait, my wife arrived. She looked tired but managed to smile.


My sister drove us to her beautiful French cottage, located just at the outskirt of Paris. It was a village town named Quermoy-Viller, in the district of Creteil. Quermoy-Viller is pronounced as “Oma Villa”.



It was a 2-storey bungalow with basement.

The front yard was green turf. In the stroller was baby Paula, while Frank was sneaking from the front door.

The rear view of her house. In the stroller was baby Paula.

the backyard was a mini garden bordered by a bushy vacant land.

The basement was a garage, boiler-room for the heating system and storage of bulky items. The handyman would have their DIY workshop in there and the wine lover will turn some of it into a cellar. In short, it is a multi-purpose basement hall.

Of course my wife loved the kitchen and the luxurious dining hall.

Frank was a little shy, as he had not seen us for 6 years.

Paula looked at us a strangers, as she was born in France, and that was our first visit.

That night we had a nice delicious dinner, especially for me,

after a month of butter and cheese in Heerbrugg.

My sister is a fantastic good cook.

523 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0845hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

UEFA 020 - Versailles

UEFA 020 - Versailles

Next day, George drove us along the highway with Sedrika and Adrian. Along the way we passed by the Orly Airport. The highway was empty except with some shrubs and flowers in the centre median. There were no huge trees by the road shoulders as compared to the roads in the heart of Paris.

Soon I realized that we were visiting the Castle of Versailles. George told us that it used to be the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte the Great. I must say it was majestically beautiful. The doors and ceilings were very high and there were chandeliers lamps all over. There were, I think, hundreds of rooms. The castle tours only took us to some of the rooms opened to public.

Photography was not allowed.

Outside the castle was even more majestic. The garden was very vast and was decorated with elaborated species of flowers. Tiny fir trees accompanied the flowers at a sparse interval.

I think the castle was on a hill. Down at one side of the garden were palm trees and pond. Beyond the palm trees was a huge pond, which looked more like a lake. Beyond the lake were tall bushy trees faintly visible through the mist. On the other side was grass verge. Beyond the grass were some tall and bushy trees. Perhaps oak or elm trees.

On both sides, it was like an endless infinity beyond the mist. We could not see the fences or boundary walls. The Castle of Versailles is really very huge and the garden is blissfully vast.

Next day, George and Bettina went with us to tour Paris before sending us off at Gare de Lyon, for our return train trip to Geneva.

My wife and I had a little rift, when we arrived at Geneva. She was silent to my many suggestions. I became easily hurt by her silence, as though, she was ignoring me, or not happy with my plans or perhaps she was homesick, thinking of our young children back home. Though, I tried to tolerate, but, her complete silence just got me to my nerve.

Due to that incident, I cancelled my Jordan tour plan. At the ticket confirmation counter, I made a request for an immediate connecting flight to Singapore, without checking out in Amman.

Everything was arranged, and we were safely in the Royal Jordanian plane going back to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.

440 words

~drafted on 10.12.2006

~edited on 19.03.2007

~at Woodlands avenue 5

~21:30 hrs

The End